Obama Says His Economic Plan "Worked"

Just 4 days ago, on July 23rd, Obama said this on his handling of the economy:



Well, if having a year by year weakening of this country's economy can somehow be described by the phrase "it worked", then, apparently, it was Obama's plan to do just that.  The fact is that, with every additional application of stimulus spending, the economy only got weaker.  In the 3rd quarter of 2009 -- the 1st quarter following the end of  the Great Recession with hardly any stimulus monies being applied -- the economy went positive and grew by 3 percent.  Then, the 4th quarter clocked in with the fastest growth rate in six years at 5.7 percent.  And, again, all this with only limited stimulus spending.  Those two quarters, combined, meant that the economy grew by 4.3 percent in the last half of 2009.  In 2010, the growth rate fell to a level of just 3 percent as the bulk of stimulus money was being applied.  2011 saw even less growth at 1.8 percent.  With this morning's release of data, we now know that, annualized, the economy only grew by 1.5 percent in the second quarter. 

So in summary, the "it worked" statement goes like this: 4.3% (last half 2009), 3% (2010), 1.8% (2011) and, now, 1.5%. 

Story on this morning's economic growth: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/gdp-us-economic-growth-slowed-to-15percent-in-last-3-months/2012/07/27/gJQAK8diDX_story.html